Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'
Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam
15 reviews
lettuce_read's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Homophobia
Moderate: Hate crime and Ableism
kat_ml's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault
booksjessreads's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
I really really enjoyed this book and I think this is an essential read.
Kit Heyam really brought trans history to life through this book. It was thoroughly researched and the most enlightening and significant part of the book, is that is focusses on a global perspective of trans history. I really liked their approach to this book since it was more holistic and offered a very intricate, nuanced and thorough analysis of trans history.
I literally have no words that could do this justice. I think the writing flowed well and was written in a respectful and reflective way. I listened to Kit read the audio and this made it an even better experience. However, the downside to this was there were so many facts that I wanted to write down and research, but as I often listen to my audio whilst travelling, I couldn't do that. I am going to get my hands on a physical copy so that when I re-read, I can go back through and take my time with their work.
Kit Heyam really brought trans history to life through this book. It was thoroughly researched and the most enlightening and significant part of the book, is that is focusses on a global perspective of trans history. I really liked their approach to this book since it was more holistic and offered a very intricate, nuanced and thorough analysis of trans history.
I literally have no words that could do this justice. I think the writing flowed well and was written in a respectful and reflective way. I listened to Kit read the audio and this made it an even better experience. However, the downside to this was there were so many facts that I wanted to write down and research, but as I often listen to my audio whilst travelling, I couldn't do that. I am going to get my hands on a physical copy so that when I re-read, I can go back through and take my time with their work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Sexual assault
nadia's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
While I was generally intrigued by the individual stories shared in this book — ranging from the 16th Century to the present day and spanning a wide variety of cultures — and I appreciated the new perspective that Heyam was trying to bring to how we look at trans people and gender nonconformity throughout history, I really struggled to stay focused while listening to this.
I was hoping for much more of a structured argument that introduced the case studies as a means to support points made, as opposed to them being used as a range of examples of the experiences of trans people throughout history. Because of the way the book jumped around in history, having finished it a couple days ago, I'm left with rough memories of snatches of stories, but the details and timeline are all jumbled up in my head. I'm also left with a few high-level points of how we might want to think about trans history going forward, but was hoping to have taken away a more solid thesis.
Still, if you're interested in learning more about trans history, I'd class this as a must-read! My rating mainly reflects how my personal enjoyment was hampered by mismatched expectations!
(I also skipped a few minutes towards the end [around the 97% mark] after Heyam says: "At the climax of [Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness]..." — a book I've wanted to read for a long time. I don't know how spoiler-y this comment ended up being but I'm not a fan of fictional novel plot points being referenced in nonfiction/academic work in general and will do my best to avoid them in case!)
I was hoping for much more of a structured argument that introduced the case studies as a means to support points made, as opposed to them being used as a range of examples of the experiences of trans people throughout history. Because of the way the book jumped around in history, having finished it a couple days ago, I'm left with rough memories of snatches of stories, but the details and timeline are all jumbled up in my head. I'm also left with a few high-level points of how we might want to think about trans history going forward, but was hoping to have taken away a more solid thesis.
Still, if you're interested in learning more about trans history, I'd class this as a must-read! My rating mainly reflects how my personal enjoyment was hampered by mismatched expectations!
(I also skipped a few minutes towards the end [around the 97% mark] after Heyam says: "At the climax of [Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness]..." — a book I've wanted to read for a long time. I don't know how spoiler-y this comment ended up being but I'm not a fan of fictional novel plot points being referenced in nonfiction/academic work in general and will do my best to avoid them in case!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Transphobia
caseythereader's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Outing, Sexual content, and Violence
More...